New people, 8 pitches on the go and a printer called Brian

I'm late writing our first blog of the year. Not through a lack of trying to find the time to write it though.

2009 was a good year for Brand Reputation. We grew our revenue by over 60%, won some great new clients including a £600million food brand, moved in to bigger offices and increased our team. We now also have a laser printer called Brian (according to our IT network set-up).

We have entered 2010 at a rate of knots with 8 new client pitches currently underway - some extremely interesting brands and I am sure this will keep Brian busy over the next few weeks as well as the rest of the team.

Our latest new hire is Olivia who has joined us to work on new business. We are also currently looking to hire more senior account handlers and an additional senior planner. We will be opening up our 2010 internship programme to applicants and the end of January.

In addition I have joined the board of Caysh as a Trustee. Caysh is a charity working with young single homeless people across south London. You will be hearing more about Caysh from us during the year.

We would also appreciate your feedback on a couple of things - which sentiment monitoring tool do you think is the best and also what topics would you like us to cover in our white papers this year?

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter; @BrandReputation and you can also contact us via enq@brandrep.co.uk

Graeme.

Tricia's guest blog

Our intern, Tricia, finished working with us just before Christmas. We thought it would be fun to ask Tricia to write a guest blog for us on what it has been like for her to work here – here’s what she wrote:
I have been interning at Brand Reputation for 6 weeks. I am from the states and I am over here for my study abroad program. Today is my last day and it has been a totally different experience than I expected. All I expected was to get shoved in a corner and file paperwork.
I worked on a couple different projects here – mainly a stakeholder engagement project for Warburtons but I also worked on a two other brands including a large babycare brand which I really enjoyed as I got to do a lot of research in to the category.
The people that I worked with at Brand Reputation were quite an interesting bunch. I primarily worked with Graeme, Magnus, and Ruth- probably some of the most entertaining people I have ever met.
I was actually quite intimidated of Graeme when I first started but now I know how nice and funny he is. He would actually take time out of his busy day to ask if I had any questions! If anything funny happens in the office I could always here Graeme laughing all the way down the hallway! Later in the day he would be the designated DJ and it was always an experience what type of music he picked out. Graeme also wanted me to experience the cultures of London- and it was quite fun to learn about.
One of my favourite memories would have to be when Ruth and I had a long day. Graeme went out and came back with a bottle of wine- I wish offices in the U.S. would find it expectable to enjoy a bottle of wine together! I think this type of atmosphere is what more offices need because they seem to love what they are doing and love being around each other- and from my experiences that does not happen in many offices. I never expected my internship to be this great, and do have to say that interning here is probably what I will remember about London the most.
Magnus is great! (I have learned to say that word a lot). He was great because he would always help me if I had any problems with the work I was doing or help me when my computer was not cooperating. He is actually quite funny because the office could be in complete chaos and he would just sit in his chair with his arms folded and a grin on his face and then fix everything staying calm, cool, and collected. Once he would fix that he would then ask would he could fix next- there should definitely be a person like Magnus in every office. He always explained tasks clearly and would help me whenever he had the time.
I have also worked a lot with Ruth. Ruth has a different job in the morning and comes into the office around 2pm. I always look forward to when Ruth comes. The whole atmosphere in the office totally changes. Before she comes in it seems very professional but when she comes through the door everyone seems to have a smile on their face, she really knows how to light up a room. She always had some great advice for me. I always found it a tad bit funny listening to her and Graeme argue a little about the work that needs to get done and how to do it- it was quite entertaining.
The team did a great job in making me feel included, something I did not expect at all. It was so much fun working with them. It sometimes did not even feel like work because I was having so much fun.

Will your brand be deflated by the VAT rise?

With January marking a rise in VAT prices back to 17.5%, Brands need to start considering how this is going to impact their trading period post Christmas, a time when there could usually count on a peak in sales. Spending behaviour on high value items is likely to be particularly affected, with many bringing forward purchasing decisions to ensure they get in before the VAT rise and save literally hundreds of pounds. Many will be pulling together price-led incentives to encourage sales prior to the price rise but they must remember that this is a short term tactic and they’ll need to revert to a more value-added proposition once the new higher price is introduced.

Now will be a tricky time for many brands who will be deciding how they will manage the rise. Do they pass on the rise to their customers or absorb the cost? We’ve already seen that Asda has pledged not to pass on the rise on its clothing range to customers but how may others will follow suit? Will any consult with their customers and find out their views or simply wait to see what their competitors do first?

It will be interesting to see which brands do decide to focus on price and which focus on other aspects of their brand proposition. It is worth remembering that communication and openness is critical in gaining customer acceptance and buy in for any type of change, so if you do need to pass on the VAT increase to your customers, be sure to be keep them informed and involved in the discussions.

Climate Change back on the agenda?

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this week is likely to ensure that climate change finds its way firmly back on the agenda for businesses and brands, after being eclipsed by the continued pressures of surviving an economic downturn. Whilst green issues and CSR or CR as it is increasingly being referred to, were still a priority at the beginning of the year, many seem to have gone noticeably silent in recent months. The conference also comes after it was revealed in a study sponsored by three major UK investors claims that British businesses are not taking enough action with regards to the strategic implications of climate change. The report, issued by Henderson Global Investors, Insight Investment and the universities pension scheme, USS, also shows that firms are missing out on investment opportunities, which may arise through investments in companies such as construction firms which build flood defences or producers of sun/rain resistant building cladding.

We’ve also noticed that there has been some discussion in various press lately over the value for brands of corporate responsibility reporting and whether the cost-benefit of producing the reports actually stacks up in terms of improved brand reputation, new business etc. As many brands ponder of these issues as they plan their campaigns for 2010, we think that what is clear is that climate change is one of those long term issues that simply won’t be going away any time soon. Brands need to be looking at their CR strategies as an ongoing investment in improving business processes, building brand reputation and helping to limit the damage to the environment caused by the business.

We wrote a number of articles earlier in the year about ways in which brands could keep their CR commitments going without needing to invest huge sums of money and with the downturn likely to affect businesses well into 2010 and beyond, cost will still be a big factor in any programmes they commit to over the next 18 months. It will be interesting to see which brands chose to announce their CR plans first and how others respond in return.

Apart from your customers, who’s talking about you?

Whenever I hear people talk about brand sentiment, there seems to be a huge emphasis on what their customers are saying about them online, but I wonder sometimes if this had led to brands forgetting the importance of the many other stakeholders who are influencing decisions to purchase on a daily basis?

Of course, customer views and opinions are a critical part of any management information data, but of equal validity are those opinion formers and influencers in key groups and organisations and those writing about you or your competitors or generally related issues in the press. Whether you are a brand owner that outsources your marketing and PR, are the manager of an internal comms team, or are a PR agency helping build brand reputation for your clients, understanding exactly who could be talking about the brand is critical to compiling and effective and targeted communications strategy which minimises risks of brand damage and taps into available opportunities for brand advocacy.

In recent months, we have seen a surge in demand for stakeholder analysis reports, as brands realise that the market has changed dramatically since their last stakeholder review. If you don’t know what’s hot and what’s not in your target industry or who’s writing about key topics that relate to your brand, how can you plan accordingly?

Why saying ‘sorry’ results in more customers

Its funny, but we are amazed at how many Brands complain about poor customer retention or negative reviews online but when you look into things further, they haven’t actually resolved the issue in question or made any attempts to listen to the customer and make appropriate changes to avoid similar instances happening again.

In a recent survey we conducted of 800 shoppers, out of stock products and pushy/rude staff were the most annoying factors when it came to their shopping experience, and for many, price was not even a major factor. What is clear is that no matter how good an experience a brand provides, customer complaints will always exist. The way a complaint is resolved is critical to the reputation of your brand. Successful Brands proactively demonstrate a genuine desire to resolve the problem and explain the steps they take to resolve the customer’s problems.

We often recommend that Brands implement a Severity Index to deal with the most pressing issues first. This enables them to see where the really major issues lie in the customer experience and thus where to focus their efforts and attention first as often, customer complaint analysis involves so many factors, most businesses don’t know which problem to tackle first.

Customers want to feel that they have been listened to and recognised – it isn’t just about money – in our experience customers with a genuine problem will be happy to accept a lower value of compensation if they feel they have been listened to. Demonstrate that you are listening. Show that you understand. Ask the customer how they would like the matter to be resolved. If you can show that you have listened and made it clear that you have taken action then you have the opportunity to generate advocacy - if you go “over and above” the customer’s expectation then customers will advocate your brand more than they would have before they had the problem.

Sleeping out for Crisis

This Saturday I will be one of a number of people who will be sleeping rough to raise money and awareness for Crisis – the national homeless charity.

If you are homeless or living in hostel accommodation, Christmas can be a lonely and depressing time. For the past 38 years, Crisis Christmas has alleviated that loneliness. It provides Christmas Centres across London from 23 – 30 December that offer vital companionship, hot meals and warmth, and a wide range of essential services that homeless people often miss out on.

Did you know that...
• Last year 3500 people slept rough in London.
• The life expectancy of a rough sleeper is just 42
• Homeless people are 13 times more likely to be a victim of violence
• More than 12,000 people have been housed through Crisis since 1997

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Please visit please visit http://www.justgiving.com/sleepout4crisis to sponsor me. You can also visit http://www.crisis.org.uk to find out more about Crisis.

Are Marketing Directors scared of the truth?

Marketing Directors who want to understand their customers better should simply spend more time in store, so why don't they?

We often hear many Marketing Directors say "I'd like to do store visits but I haven't got time", "I know all I need to know about my customers from my market research". But that Management Information is at best going to be several months old and in a rapidly changing and evolving economy, that data is likely to be outdated already. In reality, I believe that Senior Marketers are scared of what they might hear if they did go in store.

Whilst monitoring customer sentiment online is a necessity and a more current way to keep track of brand sentiment, nothing can beat actually speaking to customers and employees directly and finding out what they really think. In reality, Marketing Directors should spend a minimum of 2 days a month; out in stores and that all members of marketing teams should spend at least 10 days a year in store, but that very rarely happens.

Store visits are not just about talking to your customers, (although this is vital) but also getting feedback from store teams and observing customers. Do they read your point of sale? What types of customer are coming to you? Who leaves with nothing? Who only cherry picks promotional items? Where else do your customers shop? How easy is it to shop the whole store? What could you work with Operations on to optimise the customer's experience? What products and brands do your customers want that you're not stocking? Is a lack of product availability frustrating your customers and sending them elsewhere? It is these questions which are often not fully answered through traditional Management Information processes and is why having a presence in store is so vital.

Consumers show web is King

With Christmas just around the corner, we are urging retail brands in particular to take stock of the changes happening in the sector and adapt their strategies to take account of the multiple influences that are now affecting consumer purchase decisions, in particular the use of the web as a place to gain insight prior to making a purchase.

In one of our recent whitepapers, we revealed that traditional consumer insight methodologies are no longer sufficient in understanding buyer behavior and brand owners need to have a significantly deeper level of understanding of what motivates and influences consumer attitudes. A customer that has a good experience will typically tell 3 to 5 people, but a customer who has a poor experience will tell more than 20. When this is trend occurs via the web, these numbers can rapidly multiply and could spell disaster for brands that don’t have strategies in place to combat online negative chatter.

A couple of months ago, we quizzed over 800 consumers about the influence of online reviews on their purchase decisions during August and September, and revealed that they relied heavily on online reviews for:

Consumer electronics 56%
Home Furnishings 33%
Apparel 21%
White Goods 45%
DIY & Gardening 18%
Entertainment Products 12%
Sports Goods 9%
Food 2%

But this isn’t just about adopting trendy new social media strategies or having a fan group on Facebook. It is about directly interacting with your customers wherever they choose to have conversations about you. Customers expect and want to engage in two-way dialogue with the brands they use. The Internet should not just be viewed as a sales channel or an additional way to advertise your brand but as a method of communication.

Why Listening Should be your First Social Media Objective

It is increasingly apparent that brands that have created relationships with influential bloggers have developed powerful and effective advocates, who have helped extend the influence of the brand's marketing activity, often way beyond that possible with more 'traditional' marketing activities.

This approach (sometimes referred to as 'Crowdsourcing') has been used to cut the development time and cost of bringing new products to market and, for those who consumers are involved, helps create even more brand loyalty.

Out there in blogs, forums and in all sorts of places consumers are expressing real frustrations and, hopefully, joys and ideas about brands.
Listening to these consumers online enables brands to tap into what they are saying about the brand: spontaneously and not mediated through a research process. They will hear exactly what they think and, if they use the right approach and technologies, be able to assess how many people are expressing this sentiment and how influential they are.

It is widely accepted that consumers will continue to use social media to actively take control away from brands; a trend that will only increase.
Listening to consumer sentiment about their and their competitors' brands allows companies to track discussions, understand sentiment, identify influencers and use the resulting insights to improve the effectiveness of marketing and customer service.

Ongoing listening to sentiment does not have to be an expensive exercise.
It compares favourably on cost with research methods, such as tracking studies, that brands may know well because they¹ve worked with them for years, but these were never created for an age in which sentiment can change in a day, and you might know nothing about it.